Inside Asian Gaming

November 2010 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 17 Kinmen—favourite in the race to build Taiwan’s first casino Mainland China Taiwan Taiwan Straits Lieyu Kinmen hinting at the historical tensions between the two neighbours. Favourite If Kinmen approves the casino plan (and that is not yet guaranteed), then the Taiwan government would be very happy for most of the customers to come from neighbouring Xiamen in the People’s Republic. But that will depend on the political goodwill of China, and that is not guaranteed either. Even if built, a casino or two in Kinmen could become hostage to politics if the still delicate relationship between Beijing and Taipei were to suffer a setback. If the players are not to come from mainland China, then the bulk of themwill be coming fromTaiwan itself. That raises potential political difficulties. Governments (and its seems public opinion) in Asia are willing to support casino gaming, but seem to prefer foreigners to be the ones losing the money. That’s been proven recently in the public disquiet voiced in Singapore after a number of local players sustained heavy losses. The Singapore press recently reported that Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou lost S$2 million at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino in July. Mr Chou, who was in Singapore to perform three sold-out concerts at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, claimed the amount he lost was much smaller. Whether Taiwan’s pro-casino lobby could turn such reports to its favour is a moot point. Suggesting it would be better to keep the casino losses incurred by Taiwanese at home, tax them, and use the proceeds to fund worthwhile causes, would be one potential strategy. TheTaiwan law that allows pro-casino lobbyists even to dreamof a local industry was voted through with a good deal of controversy